What makes a good leader?
Article Outline
Betty J. Shultz, RN
The word lead is defined in Merriam Webster's as “to guide on a way, especially by going in advance; to direct on a course; to serve as a channel for”;1 however, what is leadership? I can tell you what it is not—leadership is not authority because authority is compelled obedience. Many executives confuse leadership with authority, but this is an error of convenience. It requires a lot less effort to tell someone what to do than to inspire him or her to do it.
Leadership requires assessing social dynamics as they are happening and taking corrective action with the next move. Leaders are not just people with vision. They are tactical as well as strategic masters, and they create scenarios that persuade others to follow them. Leadership does not mean getting people to do their job. It means getting people to do their best. A leader's true success depends on motivation. It is a critical component of leadership and requires constant attention and focus.
The Motivation Factor
How can you motivate people? In all honesty, you cannot. Motivation is internal and comes from within each of us. The only person who truly can motivate a person is that person.
Although you cannot control motivation, you can have a positive effect on it. You can create conditions in which people want to be motivated; therefore, they will motivate themselves. All people want to achieve, contribute, and be a part of something special. A leader must harness and nurture that drive, feed it, and encourage it to grow.
The book Primal Leadership says,
When it comes to building leadership skills that last, motivation and how a person feels about learning matter immensely. People learn what they want to learn. If learning is forced on us, even if we master it temporarily (for instance, by studying for a test), it is soon forgotten. When people are required to go through a one-size-fits-all leadership development program, participants may simply go through the motions—unless they truly want to learn.2
Communication is the activity leaders engage in the most. It is what they use to inform, instruct, direct, develop, motivate, convince, correct, collaborate, and achieve. It is how they affect performance, build trust, and shape an environment of partnership. In addition, communication is not always how well leaders say things, but how well they are understood.
Develop Listening Skills
Listening is a part of communication that leaders should focus on. Effective listening is an active process that requires skill, discipline, and practice. Effective listeners can minimize misunderstandings, assumptions, and mistakes, and they help increase trust, cooperation, and commitment.
The goal of listening is understanding. You do not have to agree with other people's positions to understand their point of view and why they feel as they do. Gaining understanding of the people around you allows you to work more constructively with others and establish a mutually beneficial and successful relationship.
Listening skills include minimizing distractions, giving the speaker your complete attention, and showing that you are listening. Do not get hung up on a person's presentation; focus on the content, and never interrupt. Interrupting is disrespectful and frustrating.
Leadership Qualities
Many successful people are no more talented than unsuccessful people. The difference is that successful people do things that unsuccessful people do not like to do. Leadership is not just knowing what you stand for, but what you are willing to stand up against.
When I have asked others what they believe leadership to be, many times I hear words that describe characteristics of a leader, including strategic thinker; visionary; self-directed; a change agent; and possessor of business, technical, and communication (ie, verbal, nonverbal) skills. Leaders also are described as having a professional personal image and interpersonal skills, and they are reliable, open minded, ethical, honest, mentors, non-judgmental, sensitive, flexible, and negotiators.
I referenced an article by Ron Franscell that was published in the Denver Post titled, “Little League, Big Lessons” during the 2002 Leadership Conference. I have had many requests to provide the lessons from that article to all AORN members, so they are reprinted here with permission from the Denver Post.
We all can learn from the Little League, as it is an excellent parable on what leadership and learning to be a leader is about. I have two additional lessons I would like to add to the above. Treat everyone like a top draft choice, and let everyone hold the trophy when you win.
I truly believe that leaders are made, not born, and that you do not have to be in an executive/management position to be a leader. What you have to be willing to do is learn. AORN leaders, including chapter presidents, committee chairs, and state council presidents, will be gathering in Denver during the 2003 AORN Focus on Leadership conference on July 25 to 27, 2003, to learn more about the skills leaders need to succeed.
AORN has many leaders, all of whom have something to contribute to our Association. How you chose to lead is up to you. You can influence how AORN does its job. In fact, you must influence it, because that is your job.
Notes
- In: Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary; . tenth ed.. Springfield, Mass: Merriam Webster Inc; 1993;p. 661
- . In: Primal Leadership: Realizing The Power of Emotional Intelligence . Boston: Harvard Business School Press; 2002;p. 99
- . “Little League: Big lessons,” . The Denver Post . 14 July 2002;E1
PII: S0001-2092(06)61340-9
doi:10.1016/S0001-2092(06)61340-9
© 2003 AORN, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc All rights reserved.
